Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

September 22, 2004

The meeting was held at Barbara Ames’ house.

In attendance: Barbara Ames, Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Steve Forsythe Fred King, Steve Robinson, Barbara Summers, and Dick Wegman. Richard Ferrin and Ron Zucker were unable to attend because of a vehicle breakdown while en route to the meeting.

President Dick Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:43 PM.

Secretary’s Report

Without objection, the board approved the minutes, without change.

Treasurer’s Report

Steve Robinson reported that we have $8,353.82 in our checking account. The rent for the next four tournaments is paid. Steve reported that the monthly treasurers’ report will be expanded to include other investments, prepaid items, and fixed assets. Steve met with Barbara Ames and Fred King to discuss the expanded reporting. Steve stated that the treasurers’ report will show comparative income statements -- current hear and prior year. The board approved the treasurer’s report, without objection.

Bridge In Schools

Ron Starr has programs started or under discussion at seven local schools. About 50 students have signed up or shown interest. Richard Grossman is the teacher and sponsor at Blair High School. September 23, 2004 is the first day of the after-school bridge activity at Blair.

BCC will have an Activity Fair on September 24, 2004.

Walt Whitman School will have an event at 7:00 or 7:30 PM on October 5, 2004. They need someone from bridge to attend and to promote bridge as an activity. Winston Edwards or Steve Forsythe or Dick Wegman will cover this event.

Walter Johnson High School has a teacher and a sponsor.

Richard Montgomery High School has a sponsor, but needs a bridge teacher.

St. Andrew’s High School has a sponsor (David Brown), and there are 15 students interested.

Eleanor Roosevelt High School has a sponsor and teacher (Brad Tash). The program begins this week.

Dick will ask Ron Starr for the list of students and teachers. Steve Robinson will add that list to his e-mail distribution list.

October Sectional

Jim Allen will chair a Panel Discussion. Jeff Roman, Beth Palmer, and Steve Robinson will be panelists. The Panel Discussion will take place in the main room between sessions Saturday, while people eat.

Steve and Sandy Forsythe will run a “Learn to Play Bridge” lesson on October 2, 2004.

January Sectional

The WBL plans to hold the January 2005 sectional at the Newport Mill Middle School. The rent has now been paid.

Sectional Start Times

The Board discussed starting the second session at 3:30 PM instead of 4:00 PM, in order to give players time to do something else in the evening after the last session of bridge, while maintaining at least 1 ½ hours for a dinner break. Dick Wegman will discuss this with Nadine Wood before making any schedule changes.

ABA/WBL

The ABA’s Washington Bridge Unit met on Sunday, as reported by Cassandra Smith. Only one third of the members wanted mixed ABA/WBL teams. Support was minimal for a joint event. Winston will talk to the ABA and find out why the ABA is concerned about overflow at their March sectional if the WBL were to be included. Let’s keep the idea open for the future. Now the WBL has scheduled a sectional in March on the same date as the ABA’s sectional, but perhaps some the organizations could work out some type of collaboration in the future. Winston Edwards noted that in his view, the ABA is more of a social organization, whereas the WBL is more competitive. It was pointed out that the WBL is about five times the size of the Washington Bridge Unit of the ABA.

Insurance

Dick Wegman moved that the WBL authorize Steve Robinson to pay up to $800 per year for Directors’ and Officers’ Insurance, general liability insurance, and insurance to cover the Church premises. The motion passed.

WBL Directory

The Board thanks Barbara Rothkin for doing a great job on the Addendum. The Addendum is being distributed at the Unit Game.

Brochure Distribution

Steve Robinson will distribute an e-mail regarding where brochures have been distributed. Steve Forsythe will then act as coordinator if there are more sites to cover. Steve Forsythe has the brochure supply, and anybody who wants more brochures to distribute should send him an e-mail.

Volunteer Party

The WBL thanked Steve and Sandy Forsythe for hosting the Volunteer Party. The party was successful, although Steve Forsythe stated that he would have liked to have more potentially involved volunteers. Steve said that primarily the “old guard” turned out for the party.

St. Michael’s Church

The Board reached a consensus that parking is a major obstacle to the use of St. Michael’s as a site for the unit game, with additional minor concerns regarding storage space and the rental price. Winston Edwards investigated the parking situation. He reported that the municipal lot has 130-138 parking spaces, and that street parking would be available. There is an additional closed lot, next to a building across Wayne Avenue. However, both lots are likely to be closed at least temporarily by the planned demolition of the adjacent building. Winston suggested that the idea of a move to St. Michael’s be tabled for a least one year.

Upgraded WBL Equipment

Ron Zucker was to have reported on the possibility of upgraded equipment, including fresh cards, better tables, and perhaps improvements to the Unit Game site. Further discussion was tabled until Ron can report to the Board.

Partnership Guarantee and Cell Phone

Barbara Doran has agreed to be the “last-minute fill-in” coordinator. She will call people from the volunteer list when someone shows up at the Unit Game and needs a partner. Don Berman will get a cell phone for $20 per month on his plan, with the cell phone to be used by the WBL for this purpose. Don will purchase the service on October 24, 2004, when Don’s own service contract is renewed.

Conduct and Ethics Policy

The ACBL has made some revisions to its disciplinary code and regulations. The WBL has developed its own set of guidelines available to the C&E Committee, complainants, and defendants. Fred King reviewed the WBL’s rules, and agree that the WBL’s C&E rules are consistent with the ACBL’s guidelines. However, the ACBL Recorder Regulations require the WBL’s Recorder to send all recorder slips to ACBL headquarters in Memphis. The Board agreed to withhold any recorder slips it deems to be frivolous, and not send any such frivolous slips to Memphis.

Free Play Policies

Fred King is reviewing the cost and use of the WBL’s free play policies. The Board appointed a committee to review the WBL’s policies and report back to the Board in November or December. The committee members appointed were: Fred King (Chair), Ted Ying, Nadine Wood, Steve Robinson, and Ron Zucker.

WBL Bulletin

Fred King noted that the Board would save a significant sum by decreasing the number of WBL Bulletins by one Bulletin per year if the WBL can retain the favorable nonprofit postal rates. Steve Robinson will check into the periodical postal rate reduction. The potential savings of cutting one Bulletin per year is up to $2,000 per year. The plan is to decrease the number of Bulletins from six issues per year from five, as long as it does not result in a significant increase in postage costs. The decrease in number of Bulletins would be consistent with the decrease in number of WBL sectionals.

The meeting adjourned at 9:40 PM. The next WBL board meeting will take place October 20 at Ron Zucker’s house. Barbara Summers will host on November 10. The Board thanked Barbara Ames for hosting the meeting.

The Secretary thanks Barbara Ames for taking notes in the Secretary’s absence.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary